Invest Data Consulting Ltd

Latest data by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows a further but marginal squeeze in the currency-in-circulation across the country during the month of July. The figure which stood at N2.003tr during the month, dropped by about N11bn from N2.014tr reported for the period ended June 28, 2019, representing a further N108.758bn or 5.15% decline from N2.111tr in the month of May. Year-to-Date, the figure has however dropped by N326.616bn or 14.02%, from N2.329tr as of December 31, 2018, its peak in the past eight months according to data available on the CBN website. Currency-in-Circulation in July, however, represented a year-on-year increase by N178.264bn or 9.77% from N1.824tr reported at the end of July 2018. https://investdata.com.ng/2019/08/nigerias-currency-in-circulation-drops-to-n2-003tr-in-july/#more

Indications at the weekend are that all may not be well at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), following allegations of high-level fraud in the disbursement of loans by the former management team. Sources within NEXIM and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), the audit firm, pointed to several violations of laid down procedures, as reflected in the bank’s unprecedented Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio at 91% of its total loan book. “That level of fraud within the system is perhaps why the CBN is yet to activate the N500bn Export Stimulation Fund set up to promote non-oil exports in Nigeria,” one of the sources lamented. The ESF was last year revamped, using the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme model, just as the CBN introduced a N50 billion direct intervention funding for NEXIM, which Godwin Emefiele, the apex bank told journalists was to further the country’s economic diversification efforts. It was also to develop sources of foreign exchange, especially in the agriculture value chain...